Guidelines for Negotiating an Offer

When you are looking for a property, you must understand the offer process. As your buying agent, I will be discussing the following points with you.

What is your motivation for purchasing? This is confidential information between your agent and you.
Review of current market conditions, e.g. season, types of financing, average length of time for properties on the market.
Review of Guiding Principles.
Competing offers may be made – realize that in a competing offer situation only one offer will result in a sale and one or more buyers may be disappointed.
The seller is not obligated to acknowledge, counter or reject an offer and may inform other buyers of the existence and/or terms of an offer to obtain better terms or price; or may not accept any offer.
The buyer, not the licensee, must make the decisions about how and when offers will be negotiated and presented or withdrawn.

When you make an offer, the following may happen:

Initial offer may be the only opportunity to buy.
Sellers may choose not to inform buyers of the existence of other offers.
Seller has the right to choose to negotiate with only one buyer at a time and not reveal this to other buyers, and this negotiation may continue until seller accepts and offer.
The terms of buyer’s offer may not be treated confidentially by the seller, or the seller’s licensee acting upon instructions of the seller, and the price and terms contained in the offer may be communicated to other buyers to obtain better terms or price.
If the buyer wishes the terms and conditions of his/her offer to remain confidential, the buyer can require the seller, prior to the presentation of the offer, to sign a confidentiality agreement. If the seller refused to sign such an agreement, the buyer can decide whether the offer is to be presented regardless.
Seller may accept an offer on terms other than price.
All buyers may be notified to present their highest and best offer – buyer may choose to:

          Make a better offer
          Leave original offer
          Revoke offer in writing if period for acceptance is current.